Is intake growing, or does it just feel busy?
The raw column fell in fourteen of its twenty-three month-on-month steps, which is why nobody in the partners' meeting believes the practice is growing. Smoothed on three months it rises from 38.33 to 62.67, with three small reversals in twenty-two values.
Legal Starter Forecasting free
After you install, this is the model to open.
How Many Matters Are Coming?
- In your spreadsheet, click the Sortia icon in the strip of icons down the right-hand edge. No strip? Click the arrow at the bottom-right to open it. You can also use Extensions, then Sortia, then Open Sortia.
- Click Start from a template and put that name in the search box.
- Pick the card with that name and click Load this template. It arrives on a new tab with real numbers already in it.
The answer
The smoothed line, and what it means for the team:
- Intake growth
- 63% over two years
- Next month
- 62.67 matters forecast
- Fee earners needed
- 6.96 against 7 today
- Planning range
- 56 to 69 matters
The three-month window is chosen to match the rhythm in the data, because the court calendar produces a dip every third month and a window holding one of each month type cancels it. An interval of 2 still limps, with seven reversals instead of three; an interval of 6 is beautifully smooth and two and a half months behind, which is the trade every window makes. The capacity block is the finding: at 62.67 matters a month the practice needs 6.96 fee earners and has 7, so it is at capacity now rather than next year. A moving average has no opinion beyond the next step, so this is a one-month forecast.
The model
Twenty-four monthly counts of new matters in time order, with a capacity block beside them that turns the forecast into fee earners.
| Months of history | 24 |
| Smoothing interval | 3 months |
| Matters per fee earner | 9 live |
| Fee earners today | 7 |
| Smoothed line and next-month forecast | calculated |
Once it is in your sheet
- The model arrives with real numbers in it and runs as it stands, so you can press the button first and understand it second.
- Change the numbers to yours. The sheet marks which cells are inputs and which hold formulas, and most labels carry a note explaining the row.
- Press the run button at the bottom of the panel. It is labeled for the tool you are in, and the result lands on its own tab, with a written reading of it beside the figures.
Never used Google Sheets? Start here goes the whole way, in seven steps, and assumes nothing.
Next question
- The venue moves the odds. By how much?Does the Court Change the Settlement Rate?
- A legal matter risk register pricing five case risks against mitigation cost, showing which of the five mitigations lose money in expectation. Free template.What Could Go Wrong in This Matter?
- Which contingency matters actually lose you money?Will the Recovery Cover the Costs?
- What reserve holds nineteen years out of twenty?How Much Should We Reserve Per Matter?
- Is a bell curve the wrong shape for your claims?What Distribution Do Claim Sizes Follow?
- Two experts, one schedule. Where is the settlement zone?Delay Claim: Who Owns the Days?
Every model like this one, and the method behind them: Forecasting in Google Sheets.